Splendid Hotel La Torre Palermo

WE depart Sicily with wonderful memories of sunny skies, blue Mediterranean seas, green hillsides covered with grape vines and olive trees, old cities, castles and greek temples, and of course good food. <br>We will see more sights in Rome, and then travel down the coast to Sorrento and Amalfi. I will post more about the things we are doing and seeing as we continue our trip.

... only one. Had no idea what was going on the whole time as all the announcements were in Italian but I got there in the end. I think I stuck out on the boat as being the only foreigner because I was the only one on the entire boat wearing shorts. Even though the temperature is in the mid 20's no one wears shorts. They all wear jackets and pants because to them it is cold and I think shorts are not stylish<br><br>.Palermo<br><br>I originally had planned to only stay a couple of ...

... the town from the old porto (fortified entrance gate) at the upper part of the town, and proceeded to walk down and along the pedestrian streets towards the corresponding porto at the lower limit of Taormina.................what a place!!??<br><br><br>Firstly, we walked up a side street following the signs, to all of a sudden be at the ancient, original entrance gates to the Greek-Roman theatre!! Although different sections have been reconstructed over the ages, parts of the ...

After another good breakfast, and enjoyed a chat with an Aussie couple from Perth at the restaurant (we really made the most of conversing with other English-speaking people for the first time in a week...amazing how cut-off you can feel at times when in unfamiliar surroundings where everyone speaks another language!)<br><br><br>We walked down the street a short distance to catch one of the many &amp; varied city bus lines to get to Palermo's famous resort beach of Mondello ...

... like one imagines it might have almost 1000 years ago! Small, narrow, cobbled streets suitable only for pedestrial traffic these days, but once the routes for small carts drawn by horse, abound (you can still see rows of wider pavers marking where the cart wheels were positioned in days gone by).<br><br>Lovely old churches, shops, eateries, etc everywhere....had a nice lunch where we sampled famous local almond/sugar sweets (really good stuff!) On the day we were there, an ...

... around in a Nissan Micra (ideal for navigating the amazing traffic flows thru the city...no lanemarking!) to main piazzas, cathedrals, theatres, the old port, the original 4-way intersection at the centre of the ancient city......incredible structures built to last!<br><br><br><br>Only 8 kms outside the city we drove to the elevated village of Monreale....location of an amazing cathedral which features one of the most impressive &amp; vast uses of ...

... a look, a big deal! Not! cuz we get into a doubtful neighborhood with a lot of strange people who looked at us thinking WTF are they doing here... after a few moments of fear we remember that as a funny situation, even so, we really enjoyed Palermo.<br>

... de même pour le "Quattro Canti", mais l'agitation des voitures et des piétons empêche le touriste de bien en profiter. - visite guidée du palazzo Comitini (intéressant). Suite à une requête infructueuse pour la visite du Palazzo Pretorio, on se dirige vers le palazzo Comitini, exemple type des palais palermittain, et dont la visite guidée (que pour nous !) s'avère très intéressante et sympathique ...

... Rusticana, which was put into opera form by Mascagni), Caltagirone (famous for ceramics) and eventually reach Piazza Armerina, where there is an Roman Villa with extensive mosaics I want to see - I'm too late to see them today so I'll stay overnight and see them first thing in the morning. The lady at the tourist office contacts Massimo, who runs a B&amp;B called Nino's House, and I lodge in a very spacious apartment in the middle of town. That night I dine at La Tavernetta - towards ...

... like it has seen better days. I enjoyed walking around the Balero market (or being jostled, I should say!), where I saw produce I have not seen before- from snails, to extra long zuchini (up to 1.5 metres!), Tunisian eggplants (round like a soccerball), and massive tuna being cut up on the street. And I have never heard anything like the screaming coming from the vendors (I took a video, but not sure if this computer ...